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David Miliband, the UK foreign secretary, appeared to challenge Gordon Brown's leadership of the Labour party in a newspaper article in The Guardian. The article set out Miliband's vision for the future of the Labour party but failed to mention the UK prime minister once by name. Several Labour MPs and prominent party figures have publicly called for Brown to quit.

Gordon Brown's party has recently suffered a string of humiliating setbacks at the polls, including a string of byelection defeats in previously safe seats, the loss of the London mayoralty and a disastrous showing in May's local council elections.